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Plautdietsch phonetics
Mennonite Low German has many sounds, including a few not found in other varieties of Low German. Consonants Where symbols for consonants occur in pairs, the left represents the voiceless consonant and the right represents the voiced consonant. Observations: According to the spelling system of De Bibel these sounds are spelled as follows: # – as in Kjinja ("children") # – as in Hunga ("hunger") # – and as in Kjoakj ("church") and Brigj ("bridge") # – no letter, but has to be used if a word that begins with a vowel or a prefix is added to a word which by itself starts with a vowel: ve'achten (to despise) # – can be written as or : Fada ("male cousin"), Voda ("father"). The only criterion is the spelling of these words in German. is spelled as in German: Wota ("water") # – at the beginning of a word and between vowels is written : sajen ("to say"), läsen ("to read"). The sound is written at the beginning of a word (where some speakers pronounce it ), between vowels and final after a short vowel: Zocka ("sugar"), waussen ("to grow"), Oss ("ox"). At the end of a word after a long vowel or consonant both are written , the reader has to know the word to pronounce the correct sound: Hos ("rabbit"), Os ("carrion"). # – and as in School ("school") and ruzhen ("rush"). and represent and at the beginning of a word and if a prefix is attached to a word starting with or : spälen ("to play") bestalen ("to order"). # – as in Joa ("year"). The sound is written after consonants, , and : Erfolch ("success"), Jesecht ("face"), Jewicht ("weight"), läach ("low"). After , it is written to differentiate it from : rajcht ("right") # – is written , only occurs after back vowels: Dach ("day"), Loch ("hole"). (an allophone of ) is rendered between vowels and final: froagen ("to ask"), vondoag ("today"). At the beginning of a word and before consonants, g has the sound. # – is a flap (like the Spanish r), or depending on the person, even a trill (like Spanish ), before vowels: root ("red"), groot ("big"), Liera ("teacher"); pronounced as an approximant (English r) before a consonant, at the end and in the -ren endings of Old Colony speakers: kort ("short"), ar ("her"), hieren ("to hear"). The uvular German r is not heard in Plautdietsch. # – is an allophone of that occurs after vowels in words like Baul and well. Vowels The vowel inventory of Plautdietsch is large, with 13 simple vowels, 10 diphthongs and one triphthong. * is rounded and is heard only in the Old Colony and Bergthal groups. * This table gives only a very general idea of Plautdietsch vowels, as their exact phonetic realizations vary considerably from dialect to dialect, although these differences are poorly documented. For instance, in the Canadian Old Colony dialect, are strongly lowered to , ]}}, is mid-centralized to , whereas there is hardly any difference between and (there is no in that variety), with both being pronounced or , although they are probably still distinguished by length and F3 values. Traditionally, Plautdietsch has been said to not have phonemic vowel length. The sound has been shifted to in the Old Colony dialect, leaving the sound only as part of the ua diphthong. However, in certain areas and age groups, there is a heavy tendency to shift sound up to . Pronunciation of certain vowels and diphthongs varies from some speakers to others; the diphthong represented by ee for instances is pronounced or even by some. Likewise the long vowels represented by au and ei might have a diphthong glide into and , respectively. * English sound equivalents are approximate. Long vowels ä and o do not have a diphthong glide. External links * Category:Language phonologies Category:Language orthographies